Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics of Reproductive Diapause in Drosophila Melanogaster

本研究的目的是了解果蝇滞育（生殖静止）的种群动态。 这一特征是中央有机体的健身和种群动态的昆虫在季节性环境中，最近已被证明是高度可变的，在这个物种。 具体的目的是研究：1）滞育的表达和能力如何影响表型的其他方面，如代谢和生理，健身和衰老;和2）滞育的遗传结构，包括潜在的识别那些基因负责观察到的滞育表达的变化。 这项研究将涉及实地和实验室实验以及详细的分子和遗传分析。 滞育D. melanogaster是研究生物如何适应环境变化的一个很好的系统。 滞育对包括衰老在内的其他特征有广泛的影响，这项研究将有助于确定调节寿命的途径。 许多农业害虫滞育，从模式生物的信息可以直接应用，并提供见解的害虫种群控制的手段。 此外，这些研究对理解新环境中的进化、对气候变化的进化反应以及其他生物体中脂质介导的生活史权衡都有影响。

The goal of this research is to understand the population dynamics of diapause (reproductive quiescence) in Drosophila melanogaster. This trait is central to organismal fitness and population dynamics of insects in seasonal environments, and has been recently shown to be highly variable in this species. The specific aims are to examine: 1) how the expression of and ability to diapause influence other aspects of phenotype such as metabolism and physiology, fitness, and aging; and 2) the genetic architecture of diapause, including potential identification of those genes responsible for the observed variation in diapause expression. This research would involve experimentation in the field and laboratory as well as detailed molecular and genetic analyses. Diapause in D. melanogaster is an excellent system for investigating how organisms adapt to environmental variation. Diapause has wide-ranging effects on other traits including aging, and this research would contribute to the identification of pathways regulating lifespan. Many agricultural pests diapause, and information from a model organism could be directly applied and provide insights into means for population control of pest insects. In addition, these investigations have bearing on understanding evolution in novel environments, evolutionary response to climate change, and lipid-mediated life history tradeoffs in other organisms.